Is There a Way Out?
by Joegomoe
Summary: A short story to get my feet wet into this whole fan fiction thing. I realize now that the subject matter of this story has probably been done to death at this point, but I hope you can enjoy regardless. Raven has been having nightmares recently. Is there someone or something that can help alleviate the stress? DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Teens Titans or the video game mentioned.


The nightmares were getting worse to say the least. What started from simply being trapped in a dark room had evolved into something much more sinister. It now takes place in a dark forest where Raven mercilessly and systematically takes out each of her friends. The order in which she went after them was sometimes different, but in the end she always got to them. In this particular iteration, Beast Boy was last, of whom she was currently chasing after.

"You're a Monster! How could you do..." A large dark tentacle lifted up off the ground and in an instant, he was gone. Raven wanted to scream, break down and cry, but all she could do was stare at her now motionless friends all around her.

She shot up out of her bed and onto the floor, hoping no one heard the scream. She had tried everything to make the nightmares go away. More tea, more meditation. She had gone through all her books multiple times. Regardless, she was now in the kitchen making more tea; trying ineffectively to get her mind off the nightmares. Cyborg or Beast Boy or whoever had left a video game on from last night and Raven could hear a somewhat annoying, yet admittedly catchy song coming from the T.V. She checked to see if anyone had fallen asleep on the couch before walking to turn it off. When she was seconds away, a crazy idea crossed her head.

'Wow you must really be desperate if you are willing to try that' she thought to herself. 'Cyborg and Beast Boy always seem to zone out when playing. Anything is worth a try'

Raven cautiously approached one of the game controllers left on the couch as if it were a bomb that could go off at the slightest movement. She executed the same amount of care (or was it reluctance?) when grabbing the controller and sitting down. The game left on was a fighting one often played while she was in the room. In a minute, she was able to navigate the menus and start a game.

Beast Boy woke up to the sound of his own stomach growling. He was already the type to occasionally go for a midnight snack and the fact that The Titans had to cut dinner short last night didn't help. He had a half eaten pizza in the fridge and it was calling his name.

As he approached the common room door, he heard the sounds of a Street Fighter match. He was so going to get on Cy for having a gaming marathon without him. The door slid open and Beast Boy seemed to freeze for a moment when he didn't see the upper half of his cybernetic friend but instead the head and shoulders of the Tower's resident empath.

"Raven?" He let slip out of his mouth stupidly.

At this point, Raven thought about turning the game off and acting like this never happened, but the damage was already done. She could see that Beast Boy was now hanging over the back of the couch.

"You beat Robin's high score. Nice." Beast Boy said with some regained composure. If he could play it cool, so could she.

"Watch someone else for so long, and you pick up a few things."

Beast Boy had tried multiple times to get her to play with him and he wasn't about to let this dream opportunity slip away. He jumped over the couch and quickly grabbed the other controller. When Raven saw his intentions, she made an effort to get up but he stopped her.

"Please?" He said.

As much as she hated to admit it, the video game was doing an effective job of getting her mind off her nightmare and...she was having fun. Raven sat back down and Beast Boy made an odd sound which seemed to convey joy. All things considered, he was doing great at keeping himself under control. They played a few rounds in relative silence with Beast Boy occasionally giving pointers or displaying awe at how good Raven had gotten in such a short period of time. Soon Beast Boy decided to break the silence and in a big way.

"OK Raven, so what's the problem? You wouldn't be down here playing video games at three in the morning if something wasn't up."

"No, I'm fine."

"Rae, please. I want to help."

"I told you, I'm fine." She said with a slight raise in her voice and while delivering the final blow to Beast Boy's character in the game. Beast Boy put down his controller. He was feeling particularly brave after playing video games with Raven and he wasn't about to drop it.

"No, Raven. Enough of your 'I can solve all my own problems' routine. Listen, if you are having nightmares again," He stopped for a second when he noticed the look of surprise on Raven's face. "Yes, I know about them. You don't think I can hear you scream? I figured I'd leave you but if they're still going on..."

"I'm scared"

"What?"

"I'm scared that one of these times, I'll wake up and it will be real. In my nightmare, I hunt you all down and I-kill you. I don't even hesitate, like I don't even care about you." She takes a breath, "I'm scared that when I wake up, it won't just be a dream. That I would have gone crazy and...and killed all of you." She looked up and expected Beast Boy to be shocked, but instead she found his arms around her.

"I know exactly how you feel. After the Beast, I would have dreams like that all the time. But then, I learned something. Something you helped teach me. You could drive yourself crazy thinking about what happens if you aren't strong enough. What happens if you lose control? All those what-ifs don't do any good. To get through it, I kept repeating something to myself,

_It doesn't have to be that way. _

_You are the one in control. _

_There is nothing to be afraid of."_

They separated and looked into each others eyes for a moment.

"Since when did you become the smart one?" Raven said with a kind smirk.

"Alright, who un-paused my game?" Cyborg shouted from the door in the loudest whisper possible. He then got a slightly better handle on the situation and said more quietly, "Oh, everything okay here?"

"We're fine, Cy" Beast Boy said cheerfully while holding up his controller "Wanna go a round?"


End file.
